Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1887-07-01
[For the SHENANDOAH HERALD
THE COUPON AND THE PUBLIC DEBT,

There are some questions which
are more important than the poll
cles of parties. and upon the solu-
ton of which depend grayer conse.
quences than mere dollars. Nations
have never hesitated to resent at
tacks upon their sovereignty, and
Virginia and the South exhausted
their blood and their treasure IN
the effort to vindicate the most ex-
IRENE doctrine of States rights. 1t
seems almost incredible that the
legislature of the State, which had
struggled so recently and SO hero
ically for the establishment Of a
questionable right, could, in 1912,
recklessly endeavor, to either throw
away, or sell out, unquestioned in
herent sovereign powers, By the
passage of an Act which not only
seeks to appropriate revenues to be
raised by subsequent legislatures,
but, which stands as a menace TO
the existence of any form OF gov
eminent, whatever, in Virginia, In
! authorizing the interception of the
revenues which are to support it.
Without expressing an opinion mp
on the questions Can sovereign
/ State become a member of joint
stock company 10 build a railroad,
or a cotton or tobacco factory can
a legislature create an obligation
binding the State for any other
than governmental purposes is
not the United States the only par
ty really responsible for the debts
OF the old Virginia. Virginia and
West Virginia created prior to their
a omission into the Union from Ter
T itorial conditions i-as questions
which do not require present ex-
/ aminatlon-we assume it to be
fixed principle OF the American sys-
ten of government that no portion
OF the sovereignty of State can be
| Invested by the legislature. Every
thing and anything, Constitutions
excepted, which takes away, en-
harnesses, or impairs the free and
( full exercise OF every power inner
ent IN sovereignty and necessary to
the uncontrolled and efficient &C.
ton of the government upon every
and all subjects, or, which may, I'M
der any circumstances, become so,
is, and must always be, an original
and ever new grievance, to redress
which it is the paramount duty of
every Virginian, 'in his generation,
to wage uncompromising war. IT
it be possible 10 preserve to the
bondholder all of his legal rights
\ and remedies ; enforce the Riddle.
berger settlement; place the public
schools and the government and in
situations OF Virginia IN condition
OF absolute and permanent security,
without squirting towards repudl'
alton, the difficulty will be sur
mounted. That which will make
the Riddleberger bonds the superb
or investment will compel the re-
funding of the consols and destroy
the tax receivable coupon.
The coupon bill, of 1912, was
based upon an erroneous estimate
of taxable values, and the rate OF
taxation is as great as the resources
and business of Virginia can bear
without an oppression which would
react upon values. The expenses
of the government are, approx
mately, as small as they can be
made without impairing its eflicien
cy, and yet there is an annual de-
felt of about one.half, in the
payment OF interest. All classes Of
the debt stand upon exactly the
same footing as to the payment Of
interest at the Treasury, out OF
moneys cOllected-the consols are
the superior investment because
9, the coupons are receivable for all
cues to the State. The coupons
! now overdue are in excess of the
entire revenue for any one year. If
all the taxes were paid in money,
the coupons would be harmless if
4 all the taxes were paid in coupons,
the government would cease to ex-
ist from want of funds to support
it; if some taxes-notably by the
\ large foreign corporations, who
have obtained Virginia's interests
in the railroads for a mere song
are paid in coupons, purchased at
60 or 60 cents on the dollar, and
the struggling citizens, earnestly
anxious for the efficiency and exist
ence of the government of the State,
pay in money, there is discrlmin.
alton against the people of our own
State and the other classes of the
debt. And why should this be so !
There was no consideration moving
10 the State for the ENGRAVING of
the tax.receivable coupon upon the
| debt - the creditor surrendered
nothing, he gained everything. If
it is consistent with the justice of
Sovereign that preference should
b. given one class of debts, then
the same Sovereign can give pref.
or ence in another way to another
class-and it becomes a question of
times and circumstances only. No
Slate can be sued without its own
consent; no mony can be paid from
th q treasury except in pursuance of
appropriations made by law every
Legislature has exactly the same
power as every preceding one IN.
less changed by the Constitution
nothing is, or can be made, respon-
sble for the payment of any debt
of the State except the current rev.
enues derived from taxation, and
there is no power anywhere, State
or Federal, to control legislature,
in any manner whatever, either in
the assessment 0f taxes under the |
Constitution, or the appropriation |
of the revenues.
The holders OF the tax.receivable
coupon bonds have to this time had,
so to speak, two funds to which to
look for payment of interest-the
moneys in the Treasury and the un.
collected taxes. They have wor.
ried, harrassed and prosecuted the
State for the riahts of the COUPONS